IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers PROGRESS—Marcelo Alvarez puts the finishing touches on freshly poured cement around fence posts at the new dog park above Big Sky Park. The park is slated to be finished by March 2009. With construction well underway on Simi Valley's first dog park, Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District officials are anticipating a March 2009 opening of the longawaited offleash dog park.

Ed Hayduk, the district's assistant general manager, said he is happy with the progress so far, noting that 30 to 40 percent of the construction has been completed.

"It's going well," he said. "It's beautiful up there."

The 3-acre site overlooks the Big Sky softball complex on Lost Canyons Drive, at the north end of Erringer Road. Initial plans for the dog run were approved in July 2007 with a budget of $500,000, but the final park district budget for fiscal year 200809 allocates $700,000 for the dog park.

The first phase of the project included installation of the main water line and construction of the parking lot and site drainage, which was completed Sept. 8.

Since construction began, the only setback work crews have experienced is the rain that hit the valley last week, Hayduk said.

"If it rains two days, you lose those two days plus two more days," he explained.

Still, Hayduk said, most construction should be done by the first of the year.

What remains to be done after that is turf establishment, installation of site furniture and miscellaneous landscaping.

The park district's own crews will install three new shade structures, or covered picnic tables, he said.

With work underway, the district had to give the park an official name.

Though the park has been referred to as Big Sky Dog Park in the past due to its proximity to Big Sky Park, the dog run was formally designated Simi Dog Park during the Sept. 4 park district board meeting.

"We called it Big Sky Dog Park because that's where it is, but on reflection, we're acknowledging that this is Simi Valley's dog park," Hayduk said. "We think people are going to call it Simi Dog Park, so why fight it?"

While the two parks are next to each other and share a common entrance off Lost Canyons Drive, each park is specialized, with Big Sky Park a site for girls' softball.

For more information, visit www.rsrpd.org.